évaporer

Forms

évaporer^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēvapōrō (“to disperse in vapour”),^[2][3][4][1] formed of ex- and vapōrō (“to give off vapour”), from vapor (“steam, vapour”).^[3][5][6] Rey notes that the Latin noun has no known etymology.^[3] It is related to vapeur.^[1][7]

Littré compares Old Occitan evaporar, Spanish evaporar and Italian evaporare.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in Henri de Mondeville's Chirurgie (1314): pour ce que les fumees … puissent estre evaporees, “so that the fumes … may be dissipated”.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The verb first meant to dissipate smoke, then a liquid (1607), especially tears, in transitive uses that went out of use and were replaced by the pronominal s'évaporer.^[3][2] This was used figuratively of a feeling spreading outwards, then (17th century) for “to vanish”,^[3][4] and familiarly, of a person, for “to disappear suddenly” (1866), hence s'évaporer dans la nature.^[3]

The past participle évaporé has meant, from the early 17th century, a giddy, frivolous person.^[3] Popular French has also used the transitive verb for “to steal deftly”.^[6]

Timeline

• 1314 – Henri de Mondeville uses evaporer of fumes.^[2][3]
• c. 1398 – The noun evaporacion appears.^[3]
• 1607 – Used of a liquid, tears.^[2][3]
• early 17th century – Évaporé of a frivolous person.^[3]
• 1866 – S'évaporer of a person who disappears.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (dated) To turn a liquid into vapour.^[7][6]
2. (pronominal) S'évaporer: to evaporate, to turn slowly into vapour from the surface: l'eau de la flaque s'est évaporée.^[7][1]
3. Faire évaporer: to boil off a liquid, as sea water to obtain salt.^[7]
4. (pronominal, figurative) To disappear, cease to exist: ses doutes s'évaporèrent.^[7][1]
5. (pronominal, familiar) Of a person or object, to vanish suddenly: mes clés se sont évaporées.^[7][3]

Word family

• évaporation
• évaporé
• évaporateur

Related words

• vapeur
• vaporiser
• Latin vapor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette